Keep Taking Action for a Peaceful Brum

You have Permission to Smile!

Our theme Peaceful Brum is coming to an end, but there’s still plenty you can do to help make our community a peaceful place:

Keep Paying it Forward, by carrying out small acts of kindness. For inspiration, here are some of the small acts of kindness that people were grateful for and wrote on our board:

Someone asked if I was OK when I was feeling down.

Maplin sales assistant cheered me by saying many people are worse of that she was.

My son washed the dishes.

Sharon’s big smile helped.

My boyfriend walked me to court.

Someone gave up their time to start a meditation group.

My boss allowed me to swap my work day.

My colleague understood when things were tough.

Several people stopped to help a few times.

A fellow volunteer offered to change times so we could go out on Sunday.

Guy gave seat in train.

A stranger smiled and said hello on my walk to work.

If that last suggestion has inspired you, then look out for a new campaign launching in Birmingham on Saturday 12th May: Permission to Smile.

The organisers describe Permission to Smile as: “Less ‘keeping ourselves to ourselves’; more friendliness, smiling, greeting, helping, joining together to make a difference where we live.”

It sounds like it’s going to be a great initiative, which chimes with both the Peaceful Brum theme, and our new theme for May & June: Speak-Listen-Change, all about mental wellbeing. And it seems that great minds think alike, as the young people who took part in Junior Peacemakers last year came up with a similar message, displayed on Birmingham busses over Christmas.

As always, if you’d like to discuss ideas about how you can take action for peace, pop into the Hub for a friendly chat.